1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a graphic editing apparatus which displays a menu of graphic editing commands, and a method therefor. In a CAD system, a menu of graphic editing commands is displayed and a user chooses an item displayed in the menu so that an edit command of the selected item is carried out. Thus, it is possible to use a number of CAD system functions in an easy manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since a conventional graphic editing apparatus is equipped with a number of edit commands and a display area on a screen for the commands is limited, the menus of these commands are organized in a hierarchical structure. A user moves a mouse cursor to a menu display area and selects one of the menu items with the mouse so that a desired command is selected. Having selected the desired command, the user specifies a target graphic element to be edited and calls for execution of the selected command on the edit target graphic element by using the mouse, whereby graphics editing such as move, rotate and deform is performed.
Since the hierarchical structure of the command menus becomes more complex and the number of the menu items increases as the functions of a CAD system are expanded, it is necessary to repeatedly confirm an item to be selected from a display menu, move the mouse cursor to the location of the item and select the item from the menu. Thus, selection from the menus is a burden on the user and causes deterioration of the operability of the system.